Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Last night was interesting. Let's start with the most interesting. After losing our last volleyball game of the regular season (scheduled at a dreary 10:20pm start time) Mrs. Nugget and I exited the Drucker Center to find about 15 cops arresting someone in the parking lot. I heard someone say "Do we have the victim?" as we passed. Everything seemed to be under control, so we headed out to the North/Clybourn stop. When we get to the south platform stairwell, we see a jacket and backpack on the ground. As our train arrives we see the police arrive to pick up the items and search the platform. Word on the street (J.Miller reporting) is that it was an armed robbery.

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A View to a Kill

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Now we travel back in time to 7:30pm the same night. We're watching Dexter season 2 on Netflix instant (the TV won't play the netflix app, so we're forced to use the non-HD version on the Wii). With about 5 minutes left in the episode we lose power. At first I assume we blew a fuse. That seems pretty crazy for a big complex like our building to lose power, but hey it might happen. Then we hear the fire trucks. We go out to the porch to discover the whole building is dark. I go into our hallway and it is pitch black (no windows in the hall). There is periodic black smoke coming out of the loading dock, which also happens to be where the stairwell exits.

We hang out on the porch to watch neighbors gather on the 3rd floor patio. It seemed like all of the residents who had dogs were the ones trying to flee, everyone else was just hanging out and watching the action. The firemen were walking, not running, usually a good sign things are fine.

It is funny how quickly you realize what you can't do without power.
1. Use the elevator (a few people got stuck, that would be the worst)
2. Use most of our security doors that open with a FOB (all propped open with fire extinguishers)
3. The lobby doors (motion sensor activated, no door handles, also propped open with fire extinguishers)

We got out through the stairs (thank you flashlight app) and walked past the firemen as they left. Of course we assumed the power would be back on by the time we got home at 11:30, but that turned out to not be the case. Some lights had been restored in the common area (hallways) but the stairs were still dimly lit with the emergency lights at each level flickering like in a horror movie (that's real!).

Power was restored at 3:30am. I know because I was made aware by how bright my alarm clock is (apparently) and the TV coming back on (weird). With everything else on, we're back to normal, right? Nope. When leaving for work this morning, the elevators buttons don't light up. So it's down the nine flights of stairs once more. I'm gonna have sick calves in time for swimsuit season.